But really... will I have to borrow my father's credit card for some battles? I'd rather pay even 30 euros for the whole game than paying for gold treasure. I'm not interested by the prices... war treasure costs money, the amount doesn't matter!

pay to play makes sense to me, as it levels the playing field for everyone, so even the casual fan or player that will only have time to play now and then (like me) doesn't have to make a tough decision whether or not it's worth it just to try out. games on iTunes seem to be doing alright using a similar model: think of all the farming games or the ridiculous smurf game that's top-grossing right now. plus, depending on how much of a volume discount is offered for frequent play, it may work out costing less for an averagely-frequent player in this model than if they had to make a large up-front investment for unlimited access they don't need.

i'm still looking forward to trying it out. if i'm doing my math right, this drops at noon here in california?

lookin' forward to try it out tomorrow, although i'm also quite skeptical about the gold ingots system. I thought it's simply a free play for now, and when it's officially released, then we only have to pay once for a certain amount and can play freely

Not liking the sound of being able to spend cash to get extra troops/upgrades within the scenario - will be interested to know whether this will be factored in when calculating how you've fared against the "average."

Generally though, looks pretty exciting. High production standards and product quality we've come to expect from DOW. Just annoyed I'll be on the motorway this afternoon

hi, Volks. I'm not very fan with this pay-to-play system but it would be funny if only the looser pay for gold ingots or you could bet for a particular match or tournament and earn some of that precious ingots....well, just a few ideas.

Unless it's a few pennies per play, I am really disappointed with a pay-to-pay model.

I just found out and am really saddened by this news. I have enough bills (and have almost every expansion hard copy to the game) as the sole bread winner in the family to have to play to play a game. Really disappointed but I'll reserve final judgement until I see pricing. But I can already see the faces of my two disappointed boys when they fid out daddy can't buy this for them.

Maybe, just maybe, something like a monthly rather than a per-play fee makes more sense? I don't know. Still in shock I suppose.

Unless it's a few pennies per play, I am really disappointed with a pay-to-pay model.

I just found out and am really saddened by this news. I have enough bills (and have almost every expansion hard copy to the game) as the sole bread winner in the family to have to play to play a game. Really disappointed but I'll reserve final judgement until I see pricing. But I can already see the faces of my two disappointed boys when they fid out daddy can't buy this for them.

Maybe, just maybe, something like a monthly rather than a per-play fee makes more sense? I don't know. Still in shock I suppose.

I'm revising my earlier assessment. The prices shown on the page (1,000 ingots for $30 which translates to 1,000 online games or 500 solo games?) seems very reasonable. I sincerely apologize for my earlier rant and I look forward to bringing my M44 addiction online. I'm much older and nicer in person, sometimes I write before I should.

I'm revising my earlier assessment. The prices shown on the page (1,000 ingots for $30 which translates to 1,000 online games or 500 solo games?) seems very reasonable. I sincerely apologize for my earlier rant and I look forward to bringing my M44 addiction online. I'm much older and nicer in person, sometimes I write before I should.

No problem

I suggest you play a few games, and then you'll be able to have an educated opinion

I was so looking forward to this.
Really disappointing to find out it's pay as you play.

Would it be possible to offer a 'Lite' one-payment only version of the game with all the multiplayer components of the game locked out or not included?

I only wan't to play the game solo and don't always have internet access for multiplay anyway.

Here's hoping.

Well, you get 100 ingots to sign up which is enough, I think, to know whether or not there's value in it for you (100 games or 50 solo games). I can't say for sure since I'm stuck at work unable to play right now but I'd say give it a try anyway and see. If you do like it, I'm willing to buy you an additional $8 packet to make up for my earlier blunder on the forums, here. How's that sound?

I thought though it and given my own situation as a full-time dad and husband and worker, the $30 ingot pack could last someone like me two years, given 10 games/week.

I have to admit I like the look of the game and have not bought any of the box games yet.. it is a good introduction for me. I am concerned about the pricing.. 1200 solo games sounds good.. but if you spend for unit upgrades it drops that considerably.. say 800 solo games as a guess then you figure I could easily play 15 games or more on a day off.. I could kill those 2400 ingots in about 4-5 months of heavy solo play.. head to head play could extend this but I still see more solo than head to head in my future. The 30 dollar coupon is a great offer as well.. but as I can buy a base set from my usual online retailer for $32 (which is coming for xmas hoefully).. I end up spending more by buying at the DOW store and I know the DOW store cant under cut its retail chain and understand but it seems counter intuitive.. I love DOW games and am expanding my inventory but I dont know that this fee system is a fit for me but I am no accountant... hehe. So maybe I am being pesimistic but I could see a years worth of plays costing $120 with $60 of that in store coupons that would cost me more to use than going to my online retailer.. I am enjoying the beta the few games I have played and wish the best to DOW on this... just dont know that I can justify the current price scheme.

Wait to see the prices and conditions and see how the whole thing works before making such a hasty opinion You'll know more tomorrow.

Yann
HQ

I will look tomorrow, and I will give it a try. But it's not all about the prices, so it will have some issues to overcome.

I have tried really really hard to not let the pay-as-you-play bother me. Really really hard! But then discovering all the extra costs for playing scenarios the way they are meant to be played did not help. It's a way to add hidden costs. You tell people prices are reasonable and they look at 1 ingot a game and think, yeah, that is reasonable. But then you add hidden costs to play scenarios properly, and that is completely artificial. There is no reason why Arnhem Bridge should cost 4x as much to play as Arracourt. My feeling of intense disappointment has changed into thinking that you think I am an idiot and that I will just be scammed like that.

The game itself is ok. It's not bad, but I can't see what all the drooling was about. It's nice to have the rules enforced, but a few repetitive animations and some sprites are not going to make me pop. It's clear that your programmers have tried to make a nice enough game, and then some suit in an office thought let's squeeze this cow until she sees purple.

If I continue to use ingots at the rate I have in the first 24-hours, then the pay-per-play system would cost me hundreds, if not thousands, of pounds each year.

I'd imagine it would also cost me my job, marriage, and social life - obviously everyone's excited, and spending a lot of time here cos it's new, but surely the novelty will wear off, or else real life will reassert its demands on our time.

As I've said elsewhere, I'm still not a fan of the idea of optional extras (i.e. making your troops special forces) having additional cost, as it seems to skew the scenario. However, the idea that these prices are prohibitive seems a bit odd.

For $60 you can get 2400 ingots, spend your $30 credit on more ingots, that's 3400.
If you play EVERY DAY. Then that still leaves you almost 10 credits a day. Enough easily for 3 or 4 games, 10 if you play against human opponents and avoid special-rules scenarios.
2 hours a day at the delux end, upto 5 if you're going for the basics.

Is 700 hours play for $60 really that bad? it's not like you're going to have much time to spend your money on anything else!

Let's be honest about the cost here. When it comes down to it, there was bound to be some frustration with the payment and cost system no matter what DoW went with. This is the model they chose and complaints, gripes, and threats about not playing the online game probably won't change their business plan.

Most likely, people are not going to change their opinions about this (or anything relating to money) because of something another player says, so that's not what I'm going to do. I will say that for me, this product is well worth the money!

I'm sorry to hear that some players won't be joining the rest of us online for this game but when it comes down to it, they aren't hurting anyone except themselves with their choice. There will be enough players who are happy to pay so that DoW can continue developing the game with improvements and expansions and there will be more than enough players online for the rest of us to always have an opponent to play against. If a few players don't want to spend their money on this, that is certainly their choice.

I would say that for the players who choose not to play Memoir '44 Online, I would appreciate if they didn't continually try to convince me or other players that we're getting robbed in some way or cheated out of our cash! If I choose to pay-to-play and I'm having fun, that's my choice...just like it's their choice not to take part.

Young players who aren't working (or older players who aren't working these days) may not be able to afford the online version, it's true...but I think everyone would agree that DoW is running a business and can't create games that the poorest players can afford. As nice as that would be, the resulting product would be a lot less impressive!!

For most of us it becomes a choice: Will I choose to go out for a few simple dinners (or one nicer one) or will I spend that money on Memoir '44 Online? It's a similar decision to when I bought my first base game of Memoir '44 and the conclusion is the same; I will get a lot more enjoyment for a lot longer if I eat a home a few meals and buy ingots for Memoir '44 Online (with my wife's permission, of course)!